Hick's Healer
by BurningDecks
Summary: Daryl contracted an infection while recovering from his injuries, a month later he wakes from a comatosed state to find the group is much different than before. Larger, with some familiar faces from his past. DarylxOC Contains 'Daryl-like' language. Cute fluffy Daryl-ness.
1. Chapter 1

**Daryl contracted an infection while recovering from his injuries, a month later he wakes from a comatosed state to find the group is much different than before. Larger, with some familiar faces from the past. DarylxOC**

**AN/= If you don't realise or haven't seen the new series (which makes you crazy btw) I have made this location up completely and it is not at all based in the series or the comics. I watched the first 2 series no less than a week ago and like many, I fell in love with Daryl's character. Bravo to Norman Reedus for his insane acting and smashing accent. I'll probably keep updating, revising and adding little bits to this so if you do have any suggestions/ideas on how I can make it better I'm all ears. And please don't tell me I've got loads of spelling errors if you're American as I am British, I tried to spell everything I knew the American way seeing as the characters are... American, we spell words different on the side of the water as I've had to point out to several people. General spelling mistakes, you can tell me, I'm okay with that. ;)**

* * *

Everything was hazy. Sluggish and heavy, like somebody was holding him down, like he was covered with a heavy blanket that he had to wrestle out of. He wasn't entirely sure of what was going on but a loud mumble began to seep into the haze. It was hard to tell what the noise was or where it was coming from but it was becoming irritating. He was trying to sleep, Daryl Dixon was trying to get a good night's sleep and they were disturbing it.

He couldn't work out why but his head was murder, it felt like the time he killed a bottle of whisky in less than an hour, his brain felt like it was squeezing inside his skull every couple of seconds. What the hell happened last night? Daryl could remember falling off a horse and becoming impaled on one of his arrows, he remembered making it back to the old man's farm and that crazy bitch Andrea shooting him in the side of the head, but after that it got patchy.

Hershel was fixing him up, he was laying in the bed thinking about how it was way too soft and he's rather be back in his tent on the solid floor and then there was nothing. He figured he must've fallen asleep but he didn't remember waking up and emptying a bottle, he didn't even remember waking up to eat or... anything. Surely somebody would've come in at some point with some grub or at least some water, but he couldn't remember it at all, nobody even asked him about Sophia's doll. Sophia. Had they found her yet? Had he over-slept and missed joining the search parties?

"I'm gonna check on Daryl." It took everything in him not to yell at the voice to 'fuck off,' he didn't need somebody to check on him, so he got a little roughed up who cares, he just did not want or need a baby sitter! The anger in him grew when he heard the zipper of his tent open up and somebody steeped inside, it sounded like a man but a small and light man probably Glenn. Why the bloody hell had Glenn just stepped into his tent? "Hey Daryl."

"You got some balls steppin' in here, kid." Daryl said expecting Glenn to make some pussy ass excuse for going in and then to run but he didn't, he didn't even say anything back. "I said, you got some balls steppin' in here!"

He heard Glenn sigh and sit on the hard floor beside him, it then occurred to Daryl, if he had fallen asleep in Hershel's house last night how did he get back outside in his tent on the floor? Did he make his way out last night? He wished the fogginess in his mind would just go away and let him think straight, let him remember what he'd done last night. "Sure has been quiet lately without you barking at everybody." Glenn said out loud. "Well, as quiet as it can be with Walkers running about the place and Lori's hormones."

What the bloody hell was Glenn talking about? 'Been quiet without him?' Had that crazy Korean son of a bitch lost his tiny asian mind? Daryl hadn't been anywhere. "Have ya lost it, sound like a crazy ass bitch!"

"Daryl, come on man, wake up. It's been too long, everybody's losing hope." What? Why was he telling him to wake up, he was awake, he was talking and Glenn just wasn't listening. He wasn't listening... he wasn't listening because... he couldn't hear him. Sure Daryl had been answering Glenn but only in his mind, his voice was... lost. Even though the horrific pounding in his head was easing up nothing was becoming clearer, as the haze began to lift and he could think a little easier there were still no memories, there was no functioning. "Wake up Daryl, move. Do something." If that boy didn't see straight soon he was gonna punch the shit head square in the jaw, there was nothing wrong with him, he was awake, he was fine. "It's been a month you lazy redneck bastard, so just get up, you've got work to do."

A month? A month of what? What the hell was Glenn talking about, Daryl heard Glenn get up from the floor and head for the exit so Daryl purposely grabbed for the boy fully intent on getting some sense out of him but he just kept walking. He kept walking because Daryl didn't move a muscle, he thought he did, he full well wanted to move but... nothing happened. He... couldn't move his arm. Or his legs. He couldn't even open his eyes. No matter how hard he tried nothing happened, he kept trying to yell to get someone's attention but nothing came out. What the hell was going on?

His head throbbed harshly making him wince and groan, the noise came out of his lifeless body but in a very faint strangled sound. The panic that flooded him lasted for just a few moments, he was a Dixon, Dixon's do not panic. If Merle had seen him panic even just a tiny bit he probably would've punched him and laughed in his face, he took a deep breath and tried his hardest to gain some control over his thoughts, over his body.

Daryl groaned again he felt... defeated, like he had lost the fight, lost a massive fight. Never had he been in a position where he hadn't been able to control his own body, it wasn't like being pissed, at least then he had some control over himself but now... now he was alone and paralysed.

"Hi, Daryl." It was a woman's voice, a voice he recognised. It was Carol. Definitely Carol. "You're looking a little warm there, got something to held cool you off." He was yelling at Carol in his head, in his head he was screaming to get her attention but nothing happened, it was hopeless. "Hershel said I couldn't give you any whiskey, sorry." He could hear the happiness in her voice, but it was fake and forced, she was forcing herself to be happy for him. They hadn't found Sophia yet. Then he felt something against the back of his head, his neck was craning like she was lifting his head. He wanted to push her away, to tell her get away from him. But then something touched his mouth, something cold and wet like... water. Why was she doing this for him? Why was she taking care of him after he failed to bring back her daughter? He found himself grunting in pain as she laid him back down, his muscles were cramped and it was beginning to get uncomfortable. "Daryl?" Did that noise actually come out? "Daryl are you awake?"

He grunted again purposely. It was difficult knowing which sounds were coming out and which were internal so he just kept trying, but nothing else happened, the noises stopped and Carol sighed. He felt something warm touch his forehead... she... she kissed him. Carol kissed his forehead again like she had when she had brought him food.

He felt her get up and move away, she left the tent leaving him alone in the shell of his body again. He didn't want that. He wanted to be awake. He wanted someone to wake him up.

He had to get up! He was going to get up! No more lying around trying to work out exactly what was going on, this was it. If there was anything that was ever going to wake him up it was the next sound he heard.

The sound of Merle's bike. His bike. And voices he didn't recognise telling others where to move it.

"Ma Bike." He found himself mumbling, he had to get to it. As the engine cut off he frowned, what the hell happened to his voice, he was drawling like a Texas piece of shit. He weren't no Texas shit. He forced himself to open his eyes. He just kept forcing himself to open his eyes, willing his eyes to open until something happened. A tiny crack of sunlight.

It was so bright, so over powering and made his eyes want to burn, he could barely keep his eyes open and took sometime to adjust to the light. Daryl found himself looking around the tent, but it wasn't his tent, it was someone else's tent and somebody else's bed covers and pillow.

He looked down at his hands and took note of how clean they were, but he was more concerned by how heavy they felt, heavy and numb. It took a lot just to get his fingers to flex, each movement made the fog in his mind swirl around, it was confusing and disorienting. But he had to fight it. Fight the mess.

Daryl forced his hand up his body to his chest and then to his face, trying to scrub his face was difficult because of his insanely heavy arms. But he had to get up, some son of a bitch watch touching his bike, god knows what they could've done to it. He took another look around the tent and spotted a smile pile of his clothes but no crossbow, he couldn't remember who took it or where it went after he went into the farm-house. He'd have to find that too.

Daryl slowly pushed his hands back down to the edges of the bed cover and slid them aside, he hadn't even tried to move his legs yet. He looked down and was relieved to find himself in clothes at least he wasn't going to have to battle through that. The cold air hit his body with quite a force and seemed to bring some life back to him, his arms lifted a little as he rolled himself on to his side, he had no idea how he was even going to get up much less anything else but he had to. After a few deep breaths Daryl stretched his hands out in front of him and used them to drag himself over to the wooden chair in the corner of the tent. It must have been there for whoever was watching over him.

He grabbed the bottom rung of the chair loosely but found himself gasping for breath, he had barely moved, yet he was exhausted. As if a months worth of sleeping was enough. With all the energy he could muster Daryl used the seat of the chair and the bottom rung to hoist himself up on to the chair and collapsed into it grunting and groaning at the stiffness and the dull ache in his bones. He found himself swaying as his head spun and made him feel just a little sick.

He silently listened to everything going on outside, the dull roar he could hear when he first woke became a little more clear, it was people. People talking. Lot's of people. He was having trouble understanding what they were saying, it was still muffled and jumbled together. Daryl took a few minutes rest, trying to build his energy stores back up so he could get outside, he was glad Carol left his tent open, he didn't think he'd be able to get it open otherwise. Daryl watched his legs as he tried to use them, they sluggishly moved but he didn't want to wait anymore, he wanted to get out so he carefully used the chair to push himself upright and back on to his feet. He could feel his legs quaking under his weight and didn't know if he'd even be able to walk on his precariously shaky legs.

Daryl let out a deep and slightly nervous breath as he shuffled forward, he slowly but surely pushed open the tent and found himself cringing in the sunlight, he hadn't seen the sun for a month and despite the cold air the suns warmth felt great.

He had to take his time, the light was extremely bright and it made his head pound harder than it was before. He took a few steps out of the tent and tried to look around but he could barely see anything, that was why he tripped over a rucksack that had been dumped on the ground. His already weak footing gave way and he crashed on to his hands and knees, crying out in pain as he hit the ground.

"D-Daryl?" He couldn't work out whose voice that was, it was definitely a female though. "Daryl can you hear me?" He grunted in reply as a hand touched his shoulder, the woman helped him into a sitting position, his knee's bent so he could rest his head on them keeping his eyes from the sun. "Carol, go get Rick and Hershel tell them he's awake, go. Go now!" The last two words came from the woman's mouth in quite a loud and high voice making Daryl groan and cover the ear closest to her, that noise made his headache worse. "Sorry Daryl I didn't think. Christ, you're freezing." The woman who Daryl was now sure was Rick's wife, Lori said in a quieter hushed tone.

Lori kept gently talking for a while, her hand remained on his shoulder as she waited for the group's Doctor and her husband to arrive.

"Daryl?"

* * *

He sat quietly in a collapsible chair beside the fire whilst wrapped in a blanket as Hershel checked him over. People were fussing and whispering while they were stood around him in amazement.

Lori was trying to warm up some stew they had been eating for a while so he could eat, Glenn had placed his hat on Daryl's head when they realized the sun was too much for the recently woken man to handle and the questions people kept asking him, he couldn't even process a rational answer to most of them, it required a lot of thinking and his head just wouldn't allow that. He just nodded and shook his head wherever he could, not only was it difficult to think it was even harder to talk, most of the words didn't come out and the rest were slurred and barely understandable.

"I think you're gonna be fine young man, you just need to take it easy for a while. I'm no doctor but I'm sure that headache will be gone by tomorrow, and don't be surprised if you don't have much of an appetite, we couldn't exactly force feed you." Hershel said standing from his kneeling position beside the other man, Daryl nodded weakly, he was too exhausted to do anything else. He had questions he wanted to ask but he just couldn't, he didn't think he'd be able to manage.

He was lucky Rick was there to ask some of the questions for him. "Does this mean he's better, he's not going to go back into a coma if he goes back to sleep is he?"

The old man shook his head. "As far as I can tell the infection is all but gone, a few more doses of antibiotics should see to that, as for the coma I don't know I mean that's not my field. We'll just have to keep an eye on him, wake him up every few hours..." At that Daryl groaned, he did not want to be woken up, the groan made Rick chuckle a little.

Daryl just sat in the chair listening to the two men talk about his condition, Rick asked about his voice and why he was having trouble speaking, he asked about how long Daryl would be out of action and these questions Hershel answered as best he could but he didn't really listen he just stared at the fire in front of him and waited for Lori to hand him the tin filled with stew and something to eat it with. She helped him untangle himself from the cover and accepted the food, he looked at and suddenly didn't feel as hungry as before, Lori seemed to notice the change in his expression.

"Don't force yourself to eat it all if you don't want it, just eat what you can and whistle if you need anything." He nodded tiredly, he actually wanted to thank her for what she was doing but all the words evaded him. He had never seen anybody... care before. So as Lori walked away he purposely whistled for her attention making her spin back around and look at him, he smirked a little and held his hands up in surrender, showing her he didn't actually need anything he was just messing with her. Lori laughed and shook her head before carrying on and leaving him in peace.

It had taken a while for Daryl to even realize they were no longer on Hershel's farm. They had at some point moved to a new farm probably because the other was over-run by walkers, that seemed like the only logical explanation for moving away from a relatively safe and comfortable place. He hadn't had chance to take a look around this new farm yet so he couldn't decide on it, but he could already see a few things that were going to need fixing if he was going to live there.

The farm didn't look like it was in too bad of a condition but it was nothing like Hershel's farm, the house was tiny in comparison and the stone it was made from seemed dirty from where he sat. The porch looked small and used to have some kind of tiny swing but that had been destroyed at some point, the wood was probably used to board up the windows.

The farm had a fence that bordered the entire farmyard, there were a few people who Daryl did not recognise trying to secure and fix certain parts of the rundown wooden fence. It was necessary for the fence to be one hundred percent to act as the first line of defence for any walker hordes, it could be something that saved a lot of lives in the future.

In the far corner of the farm stood a red barn just like the one Hershel had, the doors were wide open and a small group of people were transporting hay out to the horses that were wandering around in a large pen. He looked around at the fields and the grass and found himself admiring the deep green colour, Hershel's fields were a very similar colour and it was almost comforting.

Daryl watched everyone as they went about their business, each with their assigned jobs while he sat and ate, while he just sat and did nothing. That aggravated him. He wanted to be up and doing something but Rick had already told him he absolutely was not allowed to even get up without someone helping him, much less actually do some work. He readjusted the cap Glenn had placed on his head and moved it so the sun stayed out of his eyes, didn't know why he'd given Daryl his cap, it wasn't something Daryl would've considered doing if the roles had been reversed. But maybe that was because Glenn had grown up with a loving family, something Daryl had never had, Merle was barely around and their father was never around. He was never taught to love or to share, caring and giving was not something he understood, even though he was trying the phrase every man for himself seemed more appropriate most of the time.

It was at times like these he almost wished he had a good family, a different upbringing. He wished his father chose him over everything else, he wished Merle chose his little brother over breaking the law, he wished he didn't to feel the way he did about his family. If one good thing came from having a dysfunctional family it was that once the walkers hit, he didn't have to worry about them, Merle could look after himself so Daryl just did what he had to; to survive.

The group he was with now were the closest thing he had to a decent family and maybe his upbringing was the reason he dug his heels and tried to distance himself, he did not want to get hurt. Like Jim and Amy, if he had found himself getting close to someone and then them being dragged away from him would be... killer.

Maybe that was why he didn't entirely believe what he saw in front of him, he slowly put down the food Lori had given him and pulled Glenn's cap off, he then slowly pulled the covers he had been wrapped in off himself. Maybe his eyes and his mind were playing tricks on him, he was seeing things that were not really there.

He had to fight to get back up out of the foldable chair, to stand on his two feet. As he got up he saw Lori who had come back to check on him stop and stare at him, ask what he was doing but he did not answer and as she came towards him to help him he held his hand up to her. To stop her. She was a pregnant woman so there was no way he was going to touch her but he had to go, he had to get to what he was seeing. One foot in front of the other. Around the fire. Around the bag he had tripped over.

He felt exhausted all over agin, his body ached and he was struggling but there was no way she was getting away again. That was when she looked up from what she was doing, and the same stunned stare he had dawned her.

"Daryl?" It was quiet for a moment as they stared at each other. "Daryl!" If T-dog had not been passing Daryl at the time, the redneck would have landed straight on his back and that would've really messed up his head. The man caught the other as the young girl ran like a bullet and jumped into his arms, he barely had time to catch the girl as she jumped on him.

"Fuck Cora... You're alive... God Cora... Fuck..." Daryl kept whispering, as T-Dog lowered them both to the ground. Daryl ran his hands through the little girls hair, his calloused hands brushed her cheeks, travelled down her hands and squeezed her hands. "Fuck, Cora..."

He held the girl tight in his arms as they sat on the floor, he could see her eyes filled with tears but she was smiling with happiness. And then she seemed to remember something and jumped out of his arms. "I have to go and get Mommy, she'll wanna see you."

Daryl's eyes widened for a moment. "S-she's here?" He whispered watching the girl jump on the spot. "Aly's here?" He paused in realisation. "Go. Go get her!"

* * *

Lori had insisted Daryl sit back in the collapsible chair as he waited for Cora and her mother to return, he couldn't believe it when he saw the tiny girl sat playing with Carl and two other children. He thought the little girl and her mother were... gone.

The four-year old girl stood at just under 3 foot tall, she had always been a little small for her age, even before the world ended. He could remember the first time he had ever met Cora when she was just two and a half years old, she was an unbelievably beautiful little girl.

She had a round face with light pink, baby soft skin and a permanent pink blush over her cheeks, she had large chocolate coloured eyes and ruby-red lips. Cora had shiny blonde hair that tumbled down to her shoulders and curled up slightly at the ends, she always had a small plait in her hair that had been secured with rubber bands.

The little girl was as strikingly beautiful as her mother and she had her no-nonsense attitude to match, that was another thing that struck Daryl when they first met, that even at two years old she resembled her mother in monumental ways.

He had tried to find the mother and daughter when the walkers hit but when he drove to their home a few miles from his, the house was empty. He tried to drive to all the places he knew they liked but Merle refused to let him, he kept saying 'the bitch weren't worth gettin' ya guts fuckin' chewed on.' That was the last time he so much as thought about Aly and Cora, he didn't ever want to hear Merle verbally attack either of them again.

Lori sat beside Daryl as he waited for Cora and Aly, she kept asking him questions about Cora but he couldn't bring himself to answer, he was in shock. He was completely stunned, the swirling madness in his mind had gotten worse, much worse. His head pounded and squeezed making him wish he had something for the pain, he lifted his hands to his temples and looked at Lori hoping she'd understand but just smiled and pointed a little down the field to the little girl who was sprinting as fast as she could back to him. He hadn't noticed earlier but he could now see that she was wearing a knee-length baby pink dress with two bands of white around the bottom, it also has a pink bow around her waist, to anybody else she would've looked beautiful. Even with how dull it looked. To anybody else she would've looked beautiful but Daryl knew Cora didn't like pink, so it meant she probably didn't have any other clothes, they must have just left as fast as they could when the walkers hit. Grabbed the first thing they could while they were running.

Cora dived into Daryl's arms as he sat in the chair and wrapped her arms around him, he held her tight and buried his head in her shoulder as she hid in his neck, he couldn't believe they were here. He wished he hadn't been hurt trying to find Sophia, he would've then been awake when Aly and Cora had been found, he could've been insanely happy when he found them and not this confused, stunned, painful hurt he felt.

His head kept screaming at him, he just wanted to enjoy this moment, he turned to Lori again and looked in her eyes as he winced and frowned. "Lori. My... head." She took a moment and then nodded, she completely understood, she got up and looked for Hershel.

He watched her leave and then turned, stood in front of him was the most stunning woman he had ever laid eyes on. "Aly."

Daryl couldn't stop staring at her as little tears rolled down her cheeks, even when she cried she was beautiful. Cora had been graced with her mother's divine eyes, but she didn't have Aly's sharp defined features, she didn't have those perfectly shaped full lips and flawless tanned skin. Aly had that body that made him want to explode every time he looked at her, the perfect handful, the just-right curves and the looks great in jeans backside. Her hair, the same golden blonde as her daughter that fell straight but curled loosely by her shoulders. God he'd missed her.

She was wearing those skin-tight jeans that made her legs look supermodel long and her bum look supermodel hot, a low-cut tank top but the best thing about what she was wearing... his leather jacket. He had left it at her house the night before the evacuation, she must have grabbed it as she left. Even with that old jacket being too big it looked insane on her.

"I didn't think you were gon' be the out cold redneck Rick told me about." She whispered a little mocking his voice somewhat, keeping her distance while wringing her hands together. She was probably worried about hurting him, she knew Daryl was a tough son of a bitch but he looked awful, like he was really hurting but he was trying to ignore it as he hugged Cora.

Daryl smirked a little never letting his eyes leave hers. "Didn' know I wer' out 'til few hours ago." She smiled weakly while staring into his ice and steel eyes. "I tried t' find ya, but you'se already gone. Went t' ya house, but you'se wer' both gone and fuckin' Merle, he didn' want me searchin' fer ya. I tried Aly I tried real fuckin' hard to find ya, I promise-" He was beginning to ramble, it was the most he said since he had woken up and his ability to speak was coming back but it was difficult to control, his mouth just kept running making him sound like a kid. Something Aly must have recognized as she rushed to him, to stem the flow of words she stood by his side and wrapped her left arm around his neck and her right hand came up to the right side of his face, pulling him slightly towards her so she could bury her face in his hair and kiss his head. It wasn't often Daryl would lose control in this way and become vulnerable and almost scared, usually he would just get mad and go out fighting, breaking stuff and then come back again.

He felt like he had let her down, he felt like he wasn't good enough for her or anybody else just like his father told him. Told him he wasn't good enough. Smacked him around. Showed him he wasn't good enough. Abused him. Neglected him. Blamed him.

Aly didn't want him to think like that, she had spent every day from the very day they had met trying to build him up. She spent hours every week trying to break through his tough exterior to get to the soft interior, to see what Daryl was really like because she knew the racist, tough and rough guy was a front he'd put up. Merle had taught him to be tough physically but his childhood taught him to be tough emotionally, it taught him to keep everything he felt bottled up inside and the only way those emotions were allowed to be expressed was through anger.

Before the evacuations they had; had a big break with Daryl. She had spent all her time being nice and soft telling him he was good enough and he was perfect but he still didn't believe her, even when Cora said he was her best friend, so Aly decided to change tactics and purposely evoked an argument. During this argument she yelled at him telling him he was useless, stupid and not worth the effort. He was enraged, she could remember the way he grabbed her and pinned her to the nearest wall, he ground his teeth as he yelled back. He yelled about how he had tried to make her happy by believing in himself, how he had tried to do right by Cora and stop swearing around her, how he had tried his hardest at everything she had set before him. As soon as those words left his mouth she smiled, all the doubt and self-hatred, all the disgust and bitterness had left for a moment and he believed he was worth something.

"It's ok Daryl, I knew you'd look for us, I tried to call you but there was no reception. I had to protect Cora, we had to go." She said running her fingers through his dirty hair as she tried to explain why he wasn't able to find them. She didn't care about how dirty he was, it wasn't his fault, nothing was his fault.

"I-I looked fer ya, everywhere I went, hoped I'd find yer both somewhere." He rambled a little more securing his hold on Cora who had fallen asleep in his arms where she felt safe, for the first time in months. "I'm sorry I let ya's down, I tried-"

"Shh Daryl, you did your best you didn't let anybody down. We're here now, we're safe now."

Daryl sighed and nodded turning her head to look at him. "I fell off a horse when I wer' out lookin' fer Carol's girl, done gone and stuck ma self with a bow, when I got back... Andrea the crazy bitch shot me. Right in the head, don't 'member much since, woke up and everybody tellin' me I was gone fer a month. Some kinda infection."

Aly nodded at him listening to him tell the story, she could see he was still reeling from waking up after a month of unconsciousness and the shock of everything happening since then by the amount he was talking, there were no grunts and no simple two or three worded answers. He was half way between delirious and panicked. "That Glenn kid told me all about it. The wound got infected even with the antibiotics you gave them, they ran out after a while and had trouble finding more, by that time you were gone. They couldn't wake you again." Daryl sighed, the story seemed to fit. He smiled a little as she ran her fingers through his hair trying to soothe his pain and confusion. "She missed you a lot you know..." She said pointedly looking down at Cora. "And I missed you too."

He was about to reply when Lori and the rest of the group began to slowly drift towards them and the fire for something to eat, many of the group made their way over to him and said how glad they were to see him awake. Nobody mentioned Cora or Aly or asked how they knew each other, they just focused on him but he knew they were probably curious.

Aly grabbed a chair from just beside him and quietly sat down, she wasn't going to leave his side again, he meant too much to her to lose him again. Aly watched Rick as he came over to the group, he nodded towards them and sat down beside his son as some of the woman began cooking for the group. Daryl smiled a little when Hershel handed him a glass of water and some painkillers.

"I think you need to get some rest soon, you're looking a little worn out." The older man said to the man dozing in his chair while cradling the young girl.

Daryl nodded and met Hershel's eyes but instead of answering, the blonde woman beside him answered. "Don't worry Hershel, I'll keep an eye on him."

* * *

A small handful of the survivors travelled down to the lake based just behind the farm, there they were in direct sight of the lookout so they could be safe. They were all carrying weapons to protect themselves. Everybody besides Daryl, who was disgusted by being told they didn't want him carrying a weapon, he was still a little unstable on his feet and if he moved to fast his sight blurred but he was adamant he could handle a weapon, Rick compromised and said he'd allow Daryl to carry his hunting knife but not his crossbow.

The group slowly wandered down to the lake together each of them carrying something, some of carry had clothes and laundry in need of washing, a few were carrying water canteens that were in need of refilling. Daryl walked beside the beautiful woman who had come back into his life just a few days ago, her daughter ran rings around the pair skipping and giggling in her new outfit. Carol had approached Daryl a few days ago and told him what happened to Sophia and offered him something that Cora could change into, something she would've been more comfortable in, at first he didn't want to accept but she insisted.

When they reached the edge of the water Daryl continued straight on in so he could clean himself up a little, he walked into the water until it was waist deep and peeled his shirt of in the water.

Aly quietly sat down at the edge of the water beside the rest of the women that had come with them and began to help them wash the clothes, she sat between Carol and Andrea who she knew were part of the original group, she was curious to know what they thought of him. How he had presented himself to them, but apparently the two women also had questions. Two other woman sat beside Andrea and chatted to each other and listened to their conversation at the same time.

Andrea was the first to ask her questions all the while she had a devilish grin on her face. "So how exactly do you two know each other?" Aly smiled thinking about how she'd met the man, it was not an ordinary meeting but she knew at that moment there was something about him she was attracted too.

_She had found Daryl sitting with his back against her garden wall, his nose was bleeding quite heavily and was beginning to soak through his flannel shirt, he had a cut above his eyebrow and the skin of his knuckles had been torn. It was obvious he had been in a fight but he didn't seem too badly injured._

_Aly climbed out of her car keeping her eyes fixed on the injured man constantly. She was glad Cora was with her Mother's house, Aly didn't want her daughter to be exposed to the blood and this stranger, she didn't know how he'd react to anything. Aly locked the car door and stopped in front of the man who without a word slid away from her, he must have known she was a little weary of him and tried to compensate for that._

_"Do you need me to call an Ambulance?" She asked one hand holding the gate as she stared at him. She could honestly say he wasn't the most attractive man she had ever met but maybe that was just because he was covered in blood so she couldn't see him properly, but there was something about him that sparked Aly's interests, he looked like a rugged tough guy but his iced steel eyes said the opposite. They told her, he had seen too much in his life time and it probably started at a very young age. He was glaring at the floor and chewing on his bottom lip in frustration before she spoke, he then just looked up at her, his rage seemed to calm a little and his stormy eyes settled._

_"I'm fine, yer'd just be wasting yer time."_

_Aly grinned. "If you won't let me call you and Ambulance, you dirty hick, you'd better come in and let me sort you out." His accent was heavy and it distorted his words quite a lot, he rolled his eyes at the word hick but got up slowly anyway, he made sure there was plenty of distance between them as he followed her down the path and he stayed at the door until she invited him into the kitchen. She told him to sit down at the table and he did, she half expected him to make himself at home but when she returned to him he was sat carefully in the chair with his hands knitted together in his lap. Aly sat in a chair opposite him, as she sat she saw his body completely tense up and his jaw clench, either he was in pain or she made him very uncomfortable. "You gonna tell me your name?"_

_His eyes met hers and for some bizarre reason it made her heart flutter, he had astoundingly beautiful eyes but they were filled with agony. "Daryl." He said gruffly. "Hew're you?"_

_"Alvaretta, but I prefer Aly." Daryl scoffed and chuckled a little at her name as she wiped the blood from his nose. "What?"_

_"That's a dumb name."_

Aly paused her story for a moment as Andrea laughed at Daryl's bluntness, it was so typical of him. She could tell Daryl had been serious about her having a dumb name but she wasn't offended by it at all.

_"Sit still." She said to him as she stood from her chair, she moved beside him so she could tend to his cut she gently held a wet cloth to it, her free hand holding the side of his face to stop him moving away. His skin was strangely soft for a man and Aly felt the urge to brush her thumb across it, Daryl sat in silence as she did what she had too. He didn't feel as tense and anxious around her as he did a few minutes ago, he hadn't completely let his guard down but he felt a little safer._

Aly looked out at Daryl as he stood in the lake, even from here she could see the scars that riddled his body, she then looked at Cora who was yelling to him, he was smiling at her and talking back. She couldn't go much further out because the lake was too deep and he couldn't come any closer because he was probably naked judging by the clothes floating nearby. Aly took a deep breath and shook away the thought of Daryl naked.

"He let me clean his face and as I got to his hands something changed, the atmosphere was on fire. I was originally just going to clean him up and send him on his way, but I just couldn't, he reluctantly told me he'd gotten into a fight with his brother Merle and that was how he ended up outside. He hadn't eaten and didn't have any money so I fed him, he even helped me clean the dishes, we sat in the living-room, opened a bottle of wine. Next thing he's got me pinned the wall and we're at it like school kids." Aly couldn't help the blush that enveloped her when she remembered how the pair had practically attacked each other, the more he drank the more relaxed he became, the more relaxed he became the more the chemistry between them built up.

Carol giggled and put her arm around Aly for a few seconds. "It's easy to be dragged in by his charm when he tries to be nice."

Aly laughed in reply and nodded. "Next morning I got up and I could hear him talking to himself in the kitchen, when I got to the door he was sat at the table with one of Cora's picture books reading out loud to himself, I think... I broke a little inside seeing him struggle to read a simple book. When he noticed me he panicked a little and was ready to rush off, he was so embarrassed, but I asked him to stay and offered him breakfast and a coffee." Aly became a little more sombre remembering how she asked him if he graduated high school, and he told her he never went.

Carol had stopped laughing and instead looked out at the man who had put his clothes back on and was blissfully unaware of their conversation as he played with Cora. They all seemed to share the same sad smile as they watched him, he'd make a good father by the looks of things, the look of love and adoration for Cora was beautiful. A man who was so rough around the edges, snappy and temperamental was also so soft, kind and gentle but rarely had the courage to show it, he'd rather have people hate him then see what he was really like and that was heartbreaking.

_"Daryl, you can't wear that shirt it's covered in blood. Take it off so I can wash it." Aly said walking towards him and undoing one of his buttons to get him moving, for a moment he hesitated but then began to remove it, the further he got to unbuttoning it the more Aly wanted to cry. Why didn't she notice that last night? It wasn't his toned body that had caught her attention this time, it was the scars that littered his skin. She wanted to kiss each one away. "What happened to you?" She looked up in Daryl's eyes and saw his iron resolve, he wanted to tell her but his defense told him not to. But she didn't need to tell him how he got these scars, the small round ones on the inside of his arms looked like cigarette burns, he wouldn't do that to himself. "You were just a child when you got these, hmm?"_

_Daryl grit his teeth, he didn't expect her to work it out so quickly. "You gonna wash this fuckin' shirt or stand there runnin' yer mouth?" He snapped angrily, Aly wasn't offended or hurt by his sudden hostility, she'd half expected it._

"It took him months to finally admit what happened to him, his father was an alcoholic and Merle was locked up so his father used to beat him, burn him, strangle him. Anything he could to inflict pain on him." Aly wasn't sure if she should really be telling Daryl's story, but she trusted these women and wanted them to know why he was such a hard ass, she wanted them to know how good he really was.

"Oh that poor man, I never even thought..." She paused and watched him slowly wade out of the water with Cora, her hand secure in his. He stopped and pointed on back up to the camp as he said something, she nodded and began to run straight towards where ever he had told her to go. He then met Aly's eyes and she knew he was asking her to come over, he just kept his distance from the group. Aly stood up and brushed herself down, she straightened out Daryl's leather jacket and then headed towards him, ignoring Andrea's wolf whistle and their cackling.

Daryl raised an eyebrow as she met him and gave a one-sided smile as if he knew they had talked about him.

"Somethin' you'se wanna tell me?" He asked curiously as Aly blushed and shook her head.

"We were just admiring the view." She replied stunning him a little.

Daryl nodded and hummed, he didn't entirely believe her but he let it go anyway. "Gonna go back, get some sleep fuckin' out of it." As he said that he yawned and scrubbed his eyes like a child. Aly nodded watching the water run from his hair down to his already saturated clothes, she watched him shiver and began to shrug off his jacket and offer it back but he held his hands up. "Survive a lil' cold fer now, change when I get there. Look's better on ya anyways."

Aly smiled and shyly looked at the ground, she didn't really know where the two of them stood right now, before the apocalypse they had begun a romantic relationship but then they lost each other for months. Who knows if he still had the same feelings for her, if he still wanted to be with her. "Yeah, you go get some sleep. We... need to talk later."

Daryl's brow furrowed in confusion and he lifted a cold hand to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear, his hand then lowered to her neck where he could rub his thumb along her jaw. "I do somethin' wrong?"

She shook her head and covered Daryl's hand with her own. "No you didn't do anything, I just... I need to know... what we are you know?" She paused and tried to be more specific, he didn't quite understand and was still easily confused. "I need to know if there's still an... us, or if we're just friends-"

Daryl cut her off with a chuckle before moving his free arm to wrap around her waist and drag her close to him, his clothes were cold from the water but his skin radiated heat. "You'se can still be ma girl, if that' what yer tryin' ta say." He leaned in close so their lips were just a few millimeters apart, she could feel his hot breath tickling her mouth and her heart was racing, he still wanted her. "Yer mine forever, you, yer girl. Mine." It took just moments for the memories to come flooding back as their lips touched, she could remember their first kiss, his first kiss. The first night it was just sex, his first time, not that she knew that. Every time they hooked up after that it was more than just sex, it was love, they had made love.

Aly found herself lacing her arms around the man's neck so she could draw herself closer to him, god she'd missed him. She missed the way he'd bury his hand into her hair while slipping his other into her back pocket and she missed the way it felt to be pressed against his chest. His passion and his fire. The way he made her stomach turn.

They both heard Andrea yell at them to get a room and Aly wasn't surprised when Daryl let her go for a moment just so he could flip the other woman off all the while not breaking their kiss. He had learned not to be too rough when he kissed her, not that she was fragile and delicate but sometimes it was just too much and he seemed to be putting that lesson into practice. He placed soft, tender kisses against her mouth each one lasting longer than before, making her mouth tingle. He smiled a little as he kissed her, like he was truly happy for the first time since he'd lost her, like nothing mattered as long as they had each other. She could barely stop the moan as it left her mouth, he was surprised he could have that kind of effect on her.

Her lips had the same taste as the first time, like cherry lip balm, it was delightfully more-ish. Daryl could feel his heart pounding as her lips replied softly to his, he couldn't stop his tongue flicking out a little to taste her mouth. He hadn't intended to make their kiss any more than reassuring but once again he got sucked in by her being.

Daryl Dixon, the angry redneck who'd suffered as a child at the hand of his family, who'd build himself a mental fortress to live inside felt... free. And he could be free with a woman who was perfect for him. She'd give him a good shove when he was unnecessarily rude, she'd stand by him when he was having a hard time and she'd love on him whenever he wanted. And that was what he wanted, to just continue this moment.

To hear the birds singing in the trees and the sound of laughter, he wanted to keep feeling incredibly loved and he wanted to keep loving her forever. He let his hand run from her pocket up the back of her t-shirt to touch her skin, she flinched and groaned at how cold his hands still were making him chuckle against her lips. He pulled back from her slightly, so his forehead could rest against hers, they both kept their eyes closed as the pair tried to catch their breath. The lack of oxygen made Daryl feel a little delirious, his head span a little making him stumble back.

"Are you ok?" Aly asked suddenly looking worried. He just smiled and nodded before kissing the top of her head and reluctantly letting her go. He felt euphoric, it was a feeling only she had ever given him and it was a feeling he was learning to enjoy.

Aly was just about to say something when she heard the most horrific scream that she recognized instantly, without a second thought she dived out of Daryl's arms and ran up the hill just as her daughter came sprinting towards her, she gathered the girl in her arms and ran back behind Daryl just as a stray Walker appeared over the top of the hill. Daryl pushed Aly back further behind him before pulling out his knife. "Bring it on, you son of a bitch..."

* * *

Aly was near frantic back in camp and Daryl was furious, their peaceful moment had been ruined, he had just cleaned up and now he was covered in blood again.

"Who the fuck was on watch, who let a geek inta the camp?" He stopped for just a second as he glared at Rick. "She could'a been fuckin' killed. You're the leader of this shit, you sort it!" He growled pointing a finger at Rick before looking down at Aly as she checked Cora over for scratches or bites.

He didn't hang around for long, he stayed until Aly confirmed Cora was well before storming off towards the edge of the farm, he propped himself up against the fence looking out and stayed there until it began to get dark, he ignored everybody when they called him in for supper and went back on his own accord. He had to clear his head and there was no way he would've managed that in a crowd of people. They would've just aggravated him by asking if he was okay, or if Cora was okay, they'd be lucky if Cora went as little as a week without sleeping properly after this.

Slowly with his hands buried in his pockets Daryl wandered back down the field to his tent, he was still pretty pissed off about what had happened, if that Walker had got Cora, he didn't know what he would have done. It made his heart hurt to think of that little girl ending up like one of those flesh-eating freaks, ending up like... Sophia, he finally understood a fraction of what Carol must have felt. To see her daughter in that zombified state trying to tear apart living people, he didn't ever want to think about Cora ending up like that. He wouldn't be able to put her down like any of the others, it'd destroy him. And Aly.

He got to his tent, unlaced his boots and kicked them off before picking them up and stepping inside, he was a little surprised to see Aly already cozy in his sleeping back while Cora slept in hers on the far side of the tent. He was shocked to find her there because he hadn't spoken to her or anybody else since the incident down by the lake. Neither half of the couple spoke as Daryl undressed, stripping down to underwear and then pulling on a pair of shorts. He always wore them to bed in case Walker's came in and he had to make an emergency exit, didn't want to get caught in his underwear or worse. Naked.

He dropped his shirt in the corner of the tent and turned to the little girl in her sleeping bag as she shuffled, she cracked her eyes open a little and looked at him sleepily. "Daddy?" She whispered, for a minute Daryl didn't know what to say or to do as he looked at Aly for help but she said nothing she just stared at him in return, so slowly and carefully he knelt beside her. He brushed her hair away from her eyes and smiled a little, not sure if she could see it in the dark or not.

"Uh, w-what is it darlin'?" He asked surprised to hear his voice shaking like it was.

The girl yawned. "Are you still mad?"

Daryl sighed, he didn't realize she had taken notice of his outburst, he thought she had been to hysterical herself to take note of it. "No, I ain't mad no more. What happened was a mistake, I am sorry if I scared ya, didn' mean too." He leaned down and kissed the girl's forehead as he zipped the sleeping bag up a little more to keep her warm.

"It's ok Daddy." She said using the parental term again, it knocked the wind out of him a second time. "I love you." She whispered snuggling down and allowing herself to fall asleep. Daryl stayed frozen in his spot for a moment, had that all really happened? Did she really tell him she loved him? The only thing that broke him from his daze was Aly whispering his name, he glanced at her and licked his dry lips before slowly crawling and sliding into the sleeping bag with her, she had cleverly joined the two bags by the zippers to make one larger one. Daryl settled into it and Aly automatically shuffled closer to him propping herself up on her elbow so she could watch him, he stared up at the top of the tent in shock. His hands were tightly fisted by his sides making Aly place her free hand over his until he loosened up and let their fingers weave together, she hadn't held his hand in so long she had forgotten how perfect it felt.

"I-I couldn't say it back, couldn't say the fuckin' words." He whispered for the first time ever, feeling like shit because he couldn't please someone he was trying to make happy. "What kinda person..."

Aly shook her head unwinding their hands so she could grasp his chin and turn him to face her. "Stop it Daryl. You are a good man but you're also a man whose never seen the same kind of love she has, you've never been in a position where you can honestly express how you feel like she has. Cora knows how much you care about her and she knows how hard it is for you. Don't beat yourself up." Their eyes met and even in the dark she could see how mad Daryl was at himself for not being able to return Cora's sentiment, she let go of his chin and placed her hand on his chest where she could feel his heart beating, but she could also feel some of his scars.

"Will ya, tell me about yer family again?" Daryl asked, he seemed a little shy when he asked but she happily granted him that wish.

"I grew up in the same mountains you did, just a little closer to town with my parents and my older brother. Mom worked in a store on the outskirts of town that never really made much money and Daddy, well he couldn't get a job so he'd carve little wooden statues and every weekend he'd take my brother to town and they try to sell them to the folks. Sometimes they did well but most times they spent more money on gas than they actually made." Aly said out loud. "My brother he was good, kind, like a brother should be. But being kind wasn't enough to save his life. He'd been seeing this girl who lived in town for a while, he was serious about her, wanted to marry her even. On his way to see her one night a... drunk driver smashed straight into the driver's side of his truck and after three days of solid agony he eventually... died, 22 and he had his life snatched out of his hands." Aly whispered the last sentence as she thought about her older brother, the man who could make her smile at the hardest of times.

Daryl nodded and reached up to brush a tear away from Aly's face. "After Michael died, Mom and Dad fought a lot and eventually Daddy left us and moved away to Texas, turns out he had saved up money to help pay for our future weddings so he used that money to go elsewhere. Momma and I slaved away to earn enough money to keep the house going and live well, then Cora came along and those plans changed, there were days where we had nothing and I thought I was going to lose my daughter but we survived. Daddy died when Cora was just a few weeks old and left all his money to me, everything he owned was to be sold and the money that made would also come to me. I gave some too my Mom and bought a home a little up the mountain with the rest. Up in this mountain lived this strange redneck man, one of the Dixon brothers, have you ever heard of him?"

Daryl smirked and pondered for a moment before shrugging. "Don't know him, bet he was a real fuckin' stud though right?"

Aly giggled. "Oh yeah he was. Had a real way with words too, could drop the F-bomb in one sentence more than I had in a month. But along with being devilishly handsome..." Aly started as she shifted herself over Daryl so she straddled him. "...He was very angry at the world, thought nobody would ever care about him and that he weren't worth shit-"

"-Sounds like a real pussy." Daryl said a little sadly.

"No, he was far from it. He was beautiful, charming, an exceptional hunter and brilliant with my daughter, his childhood had been horrific but it did not stop him from becoming a wonderful, if a little hotheaded, person that I adored." Aly splayed her fingers across his chest as she leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "And he had this awfully sexy habit of sucking his fingers when he was done eating. That made me want to do things to him you can't even imagine."

That instantly got Daryl's attention and Aly knew it, she felt it. "Jesus Christ woman, you betta stop, can't while the girls here."

She found herself giggling again. "You're no fun." Daryl groaned and she could see in his mind he was weighing the pro's and con's of what was about to take place, what could go wrong but how right it would feel. "Daryl Dixon, you better make your damn mind up!" She said sternly leaning down to place a gentle kiss on his lips, without a second thought he flipped himself and the beautiful woman so he was above her. His stare was intense but Aly was distracted by his hand reaching under the pillow. "What are you doing?"

He smirked as he grabbed hold of what he was looking for, holding the foil square so she could see it. "Don't think Grimes could deal wit' another Dixon." The woman shook her head and reached up to capture the man's mouth in a burning kiss that said everything they ever wanted to say to eachother. Everything they felt all at once.

_I want you._

_I need you._

_I love you._


	2. Chapter 2

When Aly woke up she wasn't surprised to see both Cora and Daryl missing from his tent, way before the Walker's Aly would often wake to the sound of Cora's giggling outside the house, the first time Cora went missing. Daryl had taken the little one out into the garden where they were 'hunting' as he called it, which actually meant they were both chasing small birds and other creatures that ran through Aly's garden.

_She hadn't heard Cora laughing and giggling the way she was for a while, after Cora came down with the flu a few weeks ago she had been difficult to amuse, it wasn't just Cora's laughter she was enjoying either, Daryl sounded like he was having a good time. Aly made her way out to the back garden all the while enjoying the state of Georgia's wonderful sunshine and the impeccable views that came with it, stood in the middle of the garden with a little girl securely planted on his hip stood one Daryl Dixon, shirtless._

_Aly found herself staring at his back, not at his scars as eye-catching as they were, but the shape and the strength of his back. The way his muscles moved as he pointed to a passing bird, as he held Cora tightly when she thrashed and made hissing noises at the bird as if she were a cat. It was as the tiny girl clawed at the sky she saw her Mother and kicked and squirmed away from the man, as he placed her down she ran as fast as she could into her Mother's arms leaving Daryl stood with his hands buried in his pockets looking a little embarrassed. Embarrassed he had been caught having a childish, care-free moment._

_Aly carried her daughter back over to the man who was now staring at the floor, she put her down at his feet and watched Cora hug his leg before grabbing a toy to play with. Daryl didn't look up from the floor until Aly tipped his chin up to kiss him. "I haven't heard her laugh since she got sick, thank you."_

Climbing out of the sleeping bag Aly reached for her clothes and found herself not that surprised when she saw Daryl's hunting knife laying on top of the pile, every time he went somewhere without her he'd leave it behind so she could protect herself if a Walker came about, as grateful as she was for him thinking about her safety she'd much prefer he kept it to protect himself. She didn't want him getting hurt because he didn't have a backup weapon should his crossbow one day fail.

Aly stretched herself out for a moment and smiled seeing Daryl's shadow approach the tent, he unzipped it and stepped in widening his eyes in mock surprise. "Missed waking up t' that." He said smirking as he moved so he was hovering over her on his hands and knees, Daryl took a second to look the woman up and down, what did he ever do to deserve a woman as sexy as her? The shorts she was wearing stopped well before the middle of her thighs leaving an awful lot of those supermodel legs on display, and the white cotton sweater she was wearing had ridden so it was just above her navel. "Don't deserve you." He whispered leaning down to kiss the tanned skin of her stomach before heading back up to her mouth, he smiled before leaning in to kiss her, he didn't expect her to turn away from him. At first he was confused and hurt but then he saw the twinkle in her eye.

"Haven't brushed my teeth yet." She said in a playful giggly voice, Daryl rolled his eyes and changed his original destination, he ended up at her neck. He knew exactly what to do when he got there and ended up leaving her legs like jelly and the spot containing her pulse, thoroughly bitten and well on its way to bruising. "Anybody would think you're part Walker." Aly said knotting her fingers into his hair and tugging gently as he pulled away.

Daryl winked at her as she looked up at him. "Yeah, but you like it 'nd ya know it." He replied pulling himself up and out of her hands. "Best get up, yer daughter's waiting fer ya."

Aly laughed as she sat up making Daryl raise an eyebrow in question. "You mean our daughter?" He found himself smiling again as he remembered last night's encounter with the little girl, who was still calling him Daddy. He thought maybe because she was tired last night she had called him it by mistake but as soon as she woke she had addressed him as Daddy and not by his given name. Daryl still hesitated in answering but when Cora pointedly looked at him and used the parental term again he just had to give in, she wasn't going to budge.

"Yeah, somethin' like that, now get yer ass outta ma bed!" He said sternly before exiting the tent, Aly sighed and followed him out, grabbing her shoes from beside his tent and slipping them on. She followed the man to the camp fire and watched him pick up her daughter, sit in the chair she was in and then place her on his lap. Cora's biological father never would have done anything like that with her, he never would have picked her up and kissed her cheek the way Daryl did, he would have denied his daughter even now just like he did when Aly fell pregnant. He just denied everything until eventually Aly didn't want to try anymore, she just carried on with her life like he had never existed.

Aly made her way to a spare seat beside Daryl and her daughter before sitting down, she thanked the little girl and beamed as she handed her Mother a bowl of fruit pieces, that was what this farm had that Hershel's didn't. Fruit. She smiled seeing Cora obviously enjoying the bowl she had and as Aly looked around everybody seemed to be enjoying something, everybody except Daryl. He hadn't really eaten properly since he woke up from the month-long coma, she'd see him pick at the food he was offered but after a few meagre mouthfuls he would hand it to Cora and just sit in silence as everyone else ate. Aly nudged him with her elbow silently before holding the bowl out to him, initially he refused to take anything but when she didn't pull the bowl away he gave in and took a chunk of apple, it may not have been a lot but at least it was something.

Looking around the camp fire it wasn't hard to see that the group were feeling low, their faces were sullen and there was very little conversation. Rick still wouldn't talk to Lori, they had; had some kind of argument about the baby and Shane so he was pretty peeved with her, and Carl he was just taking his father's side because he thought that was the right thing to do. Glenn always seemed to become quiet and withdrawn when the group was suffering so in turn Maggie became quiet because she was reflecting him, that then effected Beth and Hershel. Carol had lost both her husband and her daughter so she was becoming lonely, Andrea had lost her sister Amy and now Dale was dead too and Daryl, he hated large groups. They made him twitchy and nervous. A twitchy and nervous Daryl often proved to be grouchy and volatile, anything could set him off, the worst that would send him over the edge would be a fight. But it didn't look like any of those were going to break out so the group were probably safe from a complete Dixon melt down. At least for now anyway.

"Mommy can I go play with Saffie?" Cora suddenly asked looking over at one of the other women's daughter, Saffie's parents were both Hispanic so her naturally dark skin made Cora look oddly pale when they stood near each other. Saffie looked at Aly almost as if she were begging her to let Cora play aswell, for as long as Aly had known Saffie and her parents she had never once heard the girl speak, apparently she had not said a word since she saw her Grandmother turn and devour her Aunt. It must have been a traumatic experience that had driven Saffie to silence.

"Alright, but you make sure you stay where someone can see you at all times, ok?" She instructed, the last thing she wanted was her daughter to be chased by another stray Walker.

Daryl carefully placed the girl on her feet as she nodded and watched her run away with the Spanish soundless girl, he then turned to Aly giving her a tight-lipped smile, he was getting agitated and restless in the large group. Rick still wouldn't give Daryl his crossbow so he couldn't even go hunting properly to cool off.

"Why don't you go make yourself some new bolts?" She suggested as she wove their fingers together to try and keep him calm. He squeezed her fingers a little but his attention had been caught by Andrea's wolf whistle, Aly had noticed she loved winding Daryl up and teasing him seemed to be a regular occurrence, living in the climate and the environment they were in aggravating an already irritable Daryl probably wasn't the smartest idea she had ever had.

Aly watched Daryl's face as he grimaced and grit his teeth through annoyance, at times like these in his normal everyday life he would've jetted off into the mountains and vented his anger on the wildlife, but now he couldn't really do that because every time he left he'd be risking his life. Risk being devoured by a stray Walker.

She pushed away the thought of Daryl becoming one of those as soon as it occurred, the thought was almost completely unbearable. Heartbreaking. The man she loved more than life itself becoming a flesh-eating psycho was the worst, it was equivalent of losing her daughter. Life would not be worth living, Aly knew she would have the same mindset as a Walker if she lost them, she would just be wandering around in an empty lonely shell.

Daryl slowly stood up his hand still clutching hers, he leaned over with an angry frustrated scowl on his face and gently kissed the woman's forehead before storming away. He headed to his tent, grabbed a few items and then disappeared to other side of the farm, not saying a single word to anybody as he left.

_"Daryl?" Aly called following him through her house as he grabbed his jacket from the kitchen and his bag from the living-room. "What's going on, where are you going?" She asked frantically as he headed to the front door, he only stopped to see Cora stood in the way. Minutes before this they had been happily sat together discussing their future, what kind of things they wanted, where they wanted to be but they had been disturbed by the telephone. When Aly answered it, it had been Merle and he sounded like he was wasted he was demanding to speak to his baby brother and she wasn't going to argue, Merle was pretty terrifying so she handed the phone straight over. Daryl just sat in silence as Merle did all the talking before he stood and got ready to leave._

_Cora had been stood in the doorway blocking him, so he dumped his bag back on the floor and picked the girl up, he hugged her tightly for a few seconds before turning and placing her in Aly's arms. A quick glance at her before picking up his bag again, jumping in his truck and driving away._

Aly remembered that moment perfectly, she felt crushed. Abandoned. The rough and tumble redneck had just deserted her for no apparent reason, it was obvious at the time it had something to do with Merle but she had no idea what had happened. They had went from happy to distraught in seconds. Daryl came back a few hours later with a bunch of wild flowers he had picked in a form of an apology, she still had tear tracks staining her face and she could see in his eyes something was wrong. Something awful had happened.

She let him in and for the first time in months they didn't touch each other, they just sat on the sofa as Cora slept in another room and stared at the floor. Daryl broke the silence by telling her Merle had done something awful and was hiding out in his house, he had to leave her so quickly because he was threatening to come to her house. He was completely off his face on ecstasy and alcohol so there was no telling what he would've done if Daryl had ignored him. Aly could remember crying and wrapping her arms around his neck all the while rambling about how she thought he was leaving her.

_"Leave ya?" He whispered brushing her hair from her face with his palm. "Why would I leave ya, yer the best I got! Without ya, I'm nothin'." Daryl said letting his forehead touch hers as he held her in his arms. "I got nothin' without ya and tha' lil girl!"_

* * *

Daryl was still pretty agitated when he heard shouting from back at the camp, he pushed off from the fence and looked back at them, whoever was stood on the RV was yelling as they looked down the scope of their rifle. The rifle was pointed at a clearing in the forest and Daryl could see what looked like three walkers heading straight for them. Without a second thought he ran from where he was stood and bolted all the way down to the gate opposite the clearing where he was joined by Glenn, Rick and a man whose name he still didn't know, Rick handed Daryl his knife as soon as they grouped up.

Something about these three weren't quite right and as they approached it became more obvious, the three Walkers had stopped in the clearing and had yet to move. As the small group grew closer to the mysterious three, their caution became stronger. Two of the Walkers were missing their arms and jaws but that wasn't the strangest part, they seemed to be chained to the third who had a long coat on and it's hood pulled up.

Daryl aimed his caution at the central walker, it seemed more dangerous than the others, mainly because it still had arms. But why had they just stopped, why weren't they attacking? Why were the limbless pair chained to the hooded Walker? Daryl glanced at Rick and waited for his signal, this would be a brilliant time for him to let out his frustrations and just blow off a little steam, but Rick seemed to be holding back. He was examining the situation, Daryl huffed looking between Rick and Glenn before back at the Walkers, just praying the Sheriff would give the word and he could go back to skulking in a corner somewhere.

It was then just as Daryl was about to lose his mind the hooded figure stepped forward and slid down its hood. It wasn't a Walker but a female. Just your average, everyday African-American woman with two arm less, jaw less undead chained to her like pets. Was she insane? Why the bloody hell did she have those things chained to her? The only thing about this woman who seemed anything close to rational was the fact she was wielding a katana, the weapon of choice wasn't exactly normal, but at least she had some kind of defense.

"Can I help you?" Rick called out to the woman all the while keeping his pistol trained at her 'pet' Walkers. This bizarre woman had seemingly put Glenn on edge and Daryl could feel his nerves pouring out but he stayed firmly in place, when Glenn looked back at him he nodded in reassurance and tipped his head to the scene before them, to get Glenn to pay attention to that more than him.

"I need water, do you have a place I can fill up?" She asked casually, as if there was nothing strange or unusual about her and her 'friends.'

Daryl scoffed grabbing every bodies attention. "Gotta lake, but ain't no way yer bringin' those fuckin' things in here!" He spat at the stranger, calmly she looked at him turning her head to one side and smiling, her white teeth showing and contrasting with her much darker skin.

"Do my friends scare you, Hillbilly?"

Daryl froze as he glared at her, she smirked a little and challenged him with her eyebrows, the temptation to yell as many racist words as he could think of burned strong as he stepped forward fully prepared to wipe her out. He didn't care if she was a woman or not, if she could insult him the way she just had then she could full well take it too.

If Merle had been there he would have already gone mad probably into a full psychotic and drug fueled rage, he would probably have beaten the crap out of her for bad-mouthing his brother, because they were from the same place essentially bad mouthing him. For accusing him of being a hillbilly, which meant she thought he was an uneducated, simple moron who cared about nothing but menial tasks and taking care of farms. Merle wouldn't have shown any remorse or even given a shit as he beat her within an inch of her life, as he put down both the Walkers that obviously meant something to her and then he probably would have done unspeakable things to the woman before killing her. It was definitely a good thing Merle wasn't around, there was no way he would've been able to bail his brother out of that, and no matter how much this woman was pissing him off, he didn't wish that on her. He wouldn't wish his brothers mad drug rages on anybody ever, he knew first hand what they were like.

Glenn grabbed Daryl's arm to stop him from doing anything stupid, it was a risky move from Glenn that earned him a fierce shove as Daryl muttered about "fuckin' interfering Chinamen and stupid bitches." He had been wound pretty tight from the moment he woke up today and his high stress levels were beginning to take its toll on him, his head was pounding all of a sudden and he felt sick to his stomach. He looked at Glenn with the intention of apologizing to him but when he glanced at him and found himself staring at two Korean's, he blinked and took a step back. As he stepped back he stumbled a little dropping his knife as he fell. Glenn reached out to grab the bumbling man again but Daryl pushed him away.

He slowly stepped back until he could reach the fence and sunk down to the ground clutching his head, what the hell was going on? He felt fine moments ago and now, now he was on the floor barely able to focus on whoever was knelt beside him. He couldn't concentrate long enough to work out who it was, there were a few possibilities but it didn't matter, he was more concerned by the familiar fog that began enveloping him. The day he woke up from that awful coma he felt the same cloudy, haziness. Hershel had said he'd probably feel like that every now and again but he didn't expect it to just creep up on him and leave him so... disoriented. So unable to think, barely able to move without his head spinning and pounding.

Daryl had no clue how long he had been sat there but he figured he must have passed out at some point. God Merle would have beat the crap out of him for seeing him pass out like that, but his Father. Shit, what would his father had done to him? The question was probably more a long the lines of what wouldn't he have done to him?

_Daryl's hand rose to the side of his mouth, he took a quick look at his fingertips and was not surprised to see them coated in his own blood, he wiped them on to his jeans and cast his eyes back to the sneering man above him as he sat on the bare floor. He reeked of his homemade moonshine, that stuff was lethal. The man was hissing about Daryl having nobody to protect him, his big brother wasn't going to be able to save him this time, how he was a pussy for relying on his big brother. He blamed Daryl for his Mother leaving, for his brother becoming a delinquent and for him resorting to alcoholism._

_He was twelve years old, with a man just over three and a half times his age waving a belt with a solid brass buckle around, if that was that he was told to believe he wasn't going to fight it. What was he going to do with a broken arm anyway? Snap it a little more in defense? The twelve-year-old did exactly as he was instructed and took his shirt off, turning his back to the man he had to call his Father and finding a particularly interesting crack in the wall he could study._

When Daryl opened his eyes Hershel was knelt in front of him holding a wet cloth to his head trying to cool his raging fever, he was sweating and felt grimy as he lay in the grass barely conscious, he tried sitting up but Hershel just pushed him back down while saying something but Daryl couldn't hear it. It didn't take much to knock Daryl back to the ground, what with his storming headache and his shaky arms it wasn't surprising.

By the smell of things he was sweating horribly and had been sick more than a few times despite being unconscious, he hated the thought of people seeing him this way but he'd deal with that later. Right now he was more concerned by the four Aly's that had just appeared in front of him, she had moved so quickly it made his eyes strain and his head squeeze. She grabbed his hand and it made him wish she'd stop moving so quickly, it was painful to see. Daryl briefly thought about the woman they had met at the clearing but he found thinking painful too.

He could hear Hershel talking to Aly about antibiotics and his infection but a lot of the other words became a dull roar in his ears, so he just focused on remembering to breath. He lay there for a few minutes until everything began to get quiet again. Quiet and dark.

* * *

Aly had been pretty freaked when she saw the cloaked African-American walk through the camp wielding a sharp-looking sword with two limbless Walkers following closely chained behind her. She had looked Aly straight in the eyes and it was spine-chilling, her eyes were filled with darkness, they were harsh but confident and just daring Aly to take a step closer.

It wasn't surprising when many of the group stopped their work to stare at the odd sight before them, it wasn't every day something like this happened, someone like her had never appeared before. Like the woman had to Aly, she met the eyes of anyone who dared look at her and most people including some of the more plucky survivors backed down under her gaze. How could one woman command so much respect through fear? In a way she was just like Daryl, they both used their ability to intimidate people to get what they wanted or in Daryl's case to protect himself. Aly wondered what horrors the mysterious woman must have seen in her life time to be the way she was.

The band of men that had been escorting the woman to wherever they were taking her consisted of Glenn, Rick and Mark another survivor that had joined the group when Aly had. The group suddenly came to a halt forcing their guest... guests... to do the same, Aly was curious to know what had forced them to stop and why Rick didn't just carry on through the camp. Aly saw Glenn step out of rank and point to T-Dog seemingly asking him to take his place, T-Dog nodded and dropped into place causing the group to start moving again, as they took off it suddenly became clear what had made the group stop. Aly's daughter.

She was stood directly where the group had stopped and had obviously been terrified out of her mind by the sight, but now she was stood looking at Glenn as he knelt in front of her trying to get her to talk to him, at first she simply nodded or shook her head at his questions but when he pointed down to Aly she began to talk. Aly stood and watched the pair intently wanting to see how Cora would react. It surprised her slightly when Glenn carefully removed his cap from his head, tousled his hair slightly and then placed the cap on Cora's head, she giggled as it drooped over her eyes so he span it around so the peak fell to the back. Cora then threw her hands on top of her head to keep the cap secure and Glenn swooped her up in his arms and swung her around onto his back, he secured his hold on her legs as she wrapped her arms around his neck and locked her hands together, satisfied she wasn't going to fall Glenn made his way towards Aly with her daughter in tow.

Aly watched her daughter grin and heard her shriek as every so often Glenn would run and suddenly stop so the tiny girl would judder on his back and then express her delight, he carried her all the way to her Mother before placing the girl at her feet, Aly watched as Glenn knelt in front of her daughter and allowed Cora to place his cap back on his head. He was just as surprised as Aly when Cora threw her arms around his neck again and hugged him waiting until he returned the sentiment before letting go and hiding her face in her Mother's legs.

"She's cute." Glenn said quietly getting to his feet. They had never really had chance to speak before so starting a conversation seemed a little bizarre but at the same time Cora seemed to like the young man, so Aly smiled and put in the effort to build a connection with him. He seemed like a good kid. "I didn't think Dixon would ever have kids, much less produce one as lovely as her." He said in a tone that suggested, he hoped, she didn't think he was being offensive.

Aly just laughed and shook her head. "That's because Daryl isn't her biological father, I met Daryl when she was two and a half years old. She's only just taken to calling him Daddy."

Glenn nodded in realization. "That explains a lot I suppose, she's adorable and Daryl's just, well... Daryl." That was probably the best explanation anybody could've ever come up with, Daryl was so Daryl that he couldn't be described any other way. "He was looking rough when they carried him back, how's he doing?"

Aly sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "He's pretty out of it, at the minute he's sleeping. Hershel thinks he got a little too worked up, Daryl woke up from a coma less than a week ago so he's bound to be out of sorts but combine that with the fact he's going a little stir crazy, he's stressed and he's a stubborn ass at the best of times. Something like this was bound to happen at some point, it's better that it happened now rather than if he'd been out hunting or in the lake or somewhere like that."

"I guess it's good he's got you to take care of him then, hmm?" Glenn said with a little smile on his face, it grew when Maggie looked over at him and smiled. "Should probably get back to work, I'll... uh... see you at dinner I suppose?" He said smiling a little awkwardly as he stepped away, Aly just nodded in agreement and watched the Korean man walk away, she knew full well he wasn't going to 'get back to work'. He was going to spent half an hour making out with his recently acquired girlfriend, Aly watched the young man walk away before turning to her daughter who had plenty of her own questions about Daryl.

Aly took the little girl's hand and guided her over to the chairs around the camp fire, Cora stood in front of her as Aly sat down, resting her hands on her Mother's knee and looking up into her eyes. That was when Cora began to ask questions.

She asked if her Daddy was sick to which Aly told her, Daryl was not sick but he was still recovering from the extra long sleep he had when he was sick, Cora didn't exactly understand why sleeping for a long time meant her new Daddy was sick but she nodded anyway. What little girl was going to understand the concept of an infection induced coma anyway?

She then asked why Daryl had been angry this morning, Aly then explained how Rick said he wasn't allowed to go out on his own and he couldn't go very far, how he sometimes liked to be on his own so he could think but he wasn't allowed too. That was that had made him mad, not being able to leave for a little while and just think. It was then Cora made sure to ask that Daryl was only angry because he couldn't go away and he wasn't really angry at her, that surprised Aly a little and she asked her daughter why she thought he was mad at her, she thought because she had started to call him Daddy instead of by his birth name that Daryl was mad at Cora. Aly shook her head and gently brushed her daughter's cheeks as she clarified and reinforced that in no way was Daryl mad at her for that or for any other reason.

Cora looked down at the floor and dug her foot into the ground, she had another question about Daryl that she could barely contain, Aly could see it in the way she wrung her fingers together and stayed very quiet. When Aly prompt the girl to tell her what was bothering her, Cora initially stayed silent not wanting to over step the mark, but when Aly lifted the girl's chin and gave her daughter a reassuring smile Cora opened up.

The question she had in her heart made Aly's want to break.

"Why doesn't Daddy love me too?" Aly could see tears springing in the little girls eyes as she fought not to sob, she genuinely believe that because Daryl had not expressed the words directly back to her last night that he didn't love her. But Aly knew that the girl was wrong. Daryl loved her with all his heart.

_Aly had heard Cora crying in her room via the baby monitor, she sighed quietly and carried the two mugs of coffee she had made into the living-room where she expected to find Daryl, but when she got there he was missing. Aly frowned a little in confusion as she placed the coffees on to the table and stood back upright, she was surprised to hear Cora's crying die down automatically. The stop was too sudden for Cora to have just fallen back to sleep, for a second Aly panicked, it was too sudden so there had to be something wrong. Aly ran from the living-room, back through the kitchen to Cora's room on the other side. She found her heart racing rapidly as she looked at the open door of her daughters dark room, Aly cautiously called out to her daughter and the man she had been seeing for a few months hoping one of them would reply in some way, but it was silent. _

_She carefully pushed the door a little more and looked around the frame, unsure of what she would find in the little girls room. Within an instant all of her fears melted away and her heart warmed at the sight before her. Sat on her daughter's bed was an exhausted looking redneck man, his purple flannel shirt was a skew and his hair ruffled all about the place as he held his girlfriends daughter in his arms. Cora had been sick with the flu for a few days so she had spent most of the day sleeping, sometimes she would wake so she could eat or go to the bathroom, but other times she woke up just to be cuddled and comforted._

_Aly had not expected Daryl to go to her when she cried, especially not after a particularly difficult day that had left him shattered. But there he was, sat with Cora in his arms looking down at her as she dozed, he was whispering things Aly couldn't hear to her to calm the little girl down. Aly smiled as he eyes watered. He was the one._

As Aly told this story to her only daughter she smiled feeling all those emotions rush back to her, the feeling of just knowing... she was going to spend the rest of her life with this beautiful, rugged man who had never really had much of a life until now. She carefully explained to her daughter who probably wasn't going to understand, that the man she now called Daddy had never had a Mom or a Dad that loved him the way she was loved, he never had somebody who would make him feel better when he was sad or kiss his knee better when he fell. And because he had never had any of these things, because as a child he was never really... loved, he found it difficult to tell people how he felt. But that didn't mean he didn't love her, it just meant he was a little afraid of people finding out.

Cora nodded seemingly she understood what she was being told and just needed time to process it, to think about what had been said. She then turned to her Mother again and climbed on her lap with a huge smile on her face. "You love Daddy too, don't you Mommy?" She asked reaching out to brush her Mother's hair.

Aly smiled thinking about the innocence of that question, thinking about how if Daryl were listening right now, he'd probably get a little freaked and walk away. She was never offended or hurt when he walked away, maybe a little frustrated, but never angry. Aly knew that Daryl's only coping mechanism was to exclude himself from the situation and think about it rationally, he was never really able to stay away for long anyway. "Of course I do baby. Forever. Just like he loves us."

She loved every part of that stubborn, hot-headed, undeniably sexy man. She loved the way he looked in that thin black sweater she bought him once, she adored the way he put up a tough man front but in reality was a soft as cotton, the way he had unimaginable physical and emotional scars that he fought with every day just so he could be a better man for her. It blew her mind when he'd bite his thumb when he was nervous, the way he used to make smoking a cigarette look unbelievably hot and the way he'd run his worked-to-the-bone fingers through her hair. She loved every part of him. She was so glad the day she found him outside her home.

She was so glad, she'd found him again.

* * *

Daryl didn't wake up after that until the evening, the sky was turning pink and supper was over. Aly was sat with her back to his tent as she spoke with Glenn and Maggie, she found that she could actually enjoy their company and they both in turn seemed happy to accommodate her and her daughter. Cora had moved from Aly's lap on to Glenn's, she had seemed to take a shine to Glenn and he didn't seem to mind all the attention she gave him, she even heard Maggie make a joke about having to fight for Glenn's affections.

Aly didn't even realise Daryl was awake until she felt his strong hands on her shoulders, his thumbs dragging circles into the base of her neck just how he knew she liked it. She sighed and rolled her shoulder's into his hands, only stopping when he stopped. He let his fingers glide up the side of her neck and then back down to stroke her collarbone, she began to miss the warmth of his hands as he pulled away to pay attention to the little girl sat on Glenn's lap, he smiled and kissed her forehead before whispering something in her ear making her nod and snuggle into Glenn's arms. He watched her silently and smiled wrapping his arms around her as he looked at Maggie.

But Aly was quickly disturbed from admiring her daughter and her new friend by Daryl grabbing her hand and tugging her to her feet, she looked at him slightly startled as he caught her with a devilish grin and pecked her lips before starting off away from the camp still holding her hand. Aly barely had time to consider what was going on, Daryl had just shown his affection to her in front of the whole group which was something he didn't usually do, he had whispered something in her... their daughter's ear and then yanked her away without a word. She couldn't really look at him properly as he'd only turned back to check on her twice, but even with the small glimpse she had got of him in those few seconds he seemed... better. Happier. With a mysterious twinkle in his eye.

It didn't take long for Aly to work out where he was taking her though, the man who had just a few hours ago had all of his energy sapped from his body, who had passed out twice was now himself again. Himself with a little extra happiness.

Aly wasn't entirely sure if letting him go in to the lake was safe, he had after all lost consciousness and if he passed out again in the lake there was no way she was going to be able to drag him back to the surface, or get him out for that matter. But by the looks of things he wasn't giving her any choice. Daryl stopped in front of her just a few feet from the lake and slowly pulled the leather jacket he let her keep off her shoulders, he smirked as it came down because the collar could no longer hide the bruises on her neck, he wrapped an arm around the small of her back and let his free hand lay between her shoulder blades pushing her closer to his body as he kissed the marks he had given her. He pushed her hair over one shoulder and smiled against her skin as she shivered.

"I missed you." He whispered, he was talking about the few weeks they had been separated when the world ended, when all communication broke down and they lost one another. "Thought I'd lost ya ferever."

Aly sighed and gently ran her fingers through his hair. "I know, but it's okay now."

Daryl pulled back from Aly but didn't let her go as he bit his lip and shook his head. "I-I thought 'bout all the things I never told ya, and how I wer' never gonna be able too. How I wer' never gon' be able t' tell ya how much I care 'bout you." He said stumbling a little. "Shit I ain't good wit' this stuff, but I... Aly I... I love you."

For a minute Aly choked, feeling her eyes fill up with tears. He'd just admitted to loving her. Something she never thought she'd hear come out of his mouth, something she thought he would always find to difficult to express, to much to think about. But he'd done it, he'd openly admitted it and by the look in his eyes he meant it, he was feeling a little insecure and vulnerable about opening up but he'd done it.

"Daryl..." She whispered in reply brushing his cheek with her fingers.

"I gotta finish 'fore I pussy out." He said quietly. "Yer the only person ever cared 'bout me, only one that made me feel I was good, like I meaned somethin' t' somebody. You and that lil' girl are all I got and I love ya both, I know I never told ya when I should'a but I guess with those Walkin' assholes about I realized how much I need ya. I know I ain't perfect and you could have better, someone less broke but I'm glad ya chose me, not some no count who'd treat ya like crap." He paused for just a minute to wipe away a few tears that were rolling down her cheeks, to take a breath and reassure himself. "You'd tell me if I wer' treating you bad, right?"

Aly nodded and sniffled as she smiled, even with those crude words Aly had never heard anything so beautiful, so perfect. "Course."

"Good. 'Cause you and yer girl, our girl, yer good to me. Yer good for me and I wanna be good fer you to, if the world didn't go t' shit like it did I would'a got ya outta that place, took ya somewhere nice. Made ya mine, ferever. You... you would'a been the first good Dixon."

Aly's eyes widened in surprise, had he really just said that? Her heart raced and pounded in chest as she tried to come to terms with what was going on. "You, wanted to get married?"

Daryl's eyes broke away from Aly's as he stared at the ground moving his hands to her hips and lightly squeezing. He was embarrassed. "Yeah, was a dumb idea anyways."

She choked again and giggled making him look up in confusion. "You silly man, I love you more than I've ever loved anybody, it probably would've been rushed but I would've said yes. I would've married you and you could of taken me anywhere you liked." Aly threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. "Alvaretta River Dixon, sounds good huh?"

Daryl chuckled. "Don't sound such a dumb name since ya said that." Aly laughed in reply and lightly slapped his back, not knowing what else to do at that moment she felt on top of the world. He hadn't proposed in essence but he had admitted his love and how he wanted to make her his wife, she didn't know how something like that would work in this new world, a marriage. Legally binding documents weren't exactly a top priority anymore, ministers were hard to come by nowadays. He hadn't proposed in a traditional get down on one knee kind of way but it was entirely what he was getting at, he had just given her his last name. "Suits ya real good." He whispered not knowing what else to do or say other than hold her.

Aly grinned and found herself unable to wait any longer, she pressed her lips to his hoping to convey everything she felt in one way or another. He seemed to understand as he slid his fingers into her hair and his free hand into her back pocket like always, the feel of his hands made butterflies erupt in her stomach and her heart skipped a few beats. She didn't even care that she was being dragged closer to a dirty, sweaty man, all she cared about was showing her love.

All she cared about was unbuttoning his shirt so she could reach his toned body underneath, so she could reach to the skin of his back and brush against his scars making his spine tingle. He let out a deep breath as she touched him, he never imagined in a million years allowing someone to hold that part of him in their hands would ever feel so good, he always thought it would hurt but it didn't. It was healing.

Every kiss, every touch. Healed him.

He groaned as she gently raked her nails against the disfigured tissue careful not to apply to much pressure, to make it pleasurable and drive him wild without sending him to far and reminding him of his past. His fingers tightened in his hair as his chest squeezed, god, how could she make him do that? How could one woman have so much control over him? She made everything he was taught just leave his mind, he was taught to be tough but all he wanted to do was melt, he had taught to take what he wanted and not care who he hurt but he wanted to give her everything she ever wanted instead.

She let her mouth graze his, let his unique and beautiful taste fill her soul so she could remember it forever. She let Daryl Dixon fill her body, soul and mind.

Aly found herself completely relaxed as they lay together in the grass, looking up at the starry sky. She didn't care about the Walker's nearby in the woods or the fact that she was living in a tent on a farm, all she cared about right then was the man laying next to her still soaking from diving into the lake. She draped her arm around his stomach making him look down at her and meet her eyes, he looked so at peace. So content with the world for the first time in his life, for the first time nothing mattered anymore. For the first time he didn't have a psychotic older brother who was missing presumed dead, he didn't have a crazed Father who beat him up until his own moonshine concoction had killed him, he just had a beautiful woman lying beside him who had a beautiful daughter that loved him.

He was going to marry this woman whether it was in the life or the next, whether he had to scour the entire state of Georgia to find her a wedding ring so she could become his wife, she was going to become Alvaretta Dixon and he was going to be complete.

"Suppose we should head back to camp soon, hmm?"

Daryl sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Should probably let our daughter know that she's gonna become a Dixon, real soon."

_Cora Dixon._

_Alvaretta River Dixon._

_They'd become Dixon's real soon._


End file.
